Senior Health Treatments & Conditions

Preventing Errors and Infections During Surgery: Steps for Hospital Staff and Patients

You have been admitted to the hospital for surgery. You and your family or friends may have many feelings of anxiety or nervousness about the surgery. Rest assured that the hospital staff has standards in place to ensure that your stay during surgery is a safe one.

Hospitals follow safety and quality measures that are set by government organizations, researchers, and expert panels. These measures require hospitals to:

Adopt safety techniques and procedures

Report on how well they are implementing these procedures

Regularly train hospital staff

Meet to discuss errors on a regular basis

Here are some measures that the hospital staff will take to prevent surgical errors and infection during your hospital stay and surgery.

What the Hospital Staff Will Do to Prevent...

Patient Identification Errors

Receiving the correct surgery and care means making sure that your doctors, nurses, and others on your healthcare team know who you are. This means having your correct name, telephone number, and other unique identification on record. Hospitals have standards to:

Identify each patient with the treatment or service intended for him or her

Match the treatment or service to the specific patient

One way the hospital staff will enforce these standards is by using at least two forms of patient identifiers. Having at least two forms when giving medications, collecting blood samples, and performing surgery will decrease the chance of mistakes in patient care.

Procedure Errors

Along with correct patient identifiers, the hospital staff will make sure that all important information is collected prior to your surgery. This is called preprocedure verification. During this time, they will make sure that all information and equipment needed for your surgery are available. They will also make sure that the information and equipment are correctly matched to your patient identifiers and that they have reviewed the information among themselves and with you.

Doing surgery on the wrong part of the body can be a terrible mistake. Your surgical team will take careful actions, including checking with you, to mark the specific site on your body where surgery will be done.

Infection

Hospitals have also adopted many standard procedures to help prevent infection during surgery. You may notice many of these techniques during your stay. If you are concerned about a technique to prevent infection, you are encouraged to speak up. Ask your doctor about how they will prevent infection. Regular and thorough hand washing by hospital staff is one of the most important aspects of infection prevention.

The hospital staff will do the following to help prevent infection:

Have a specially trained and dedicated infection control staff

Regularly educate all surgeons and staff on infection control measures

Vaccinate and treat personnel for exposure to infection at all times

Implement computer-assisted decision support and reminders that help doctors know when and how much antibiotic or other medication to give you

Remove hair from your body only if needed and in the most sterile manner, such as clipping or using depilatory cream

Give you prophylactic antibiotics within 1-2 hours

During Surgery

Wear special gowns, masks, gloves, and hair covers that act as a barrier to microorganisms

Keep the surgical area free of germs by using special sterile drapes and other antimicrobial barriers

Limit the number of people coming into and out of the operating room

Keep the operating room at a comfortable temperature, generally 68°F to 73°F (20°C to 22.7°C), to prevent infection

Keep the surgery time as short as possible

After Surgery

Discontinue antibiotics within 24-48 hours after surgery

Control your blood sugar levels

Control bleeding

Minimize catheter use and duration

Keep the main wound covered with sterile dressing for 24-48 hours

Discontinue IVs as soon as possible

Use sterile techniques when handling tools and changing wound dressings or catheters, such as:

Wash hands

Wear a mask

Unfold supplies in an ordered manner on a sterile surface

Carefully put on gloves

Other Steps You Can Take

The hospital staff will follow strict guidelines so that your surgery and hospital stay are successful. However, there are things you can do to lower your risk of infection. Lifestyle factors, such as smoking, can actually increase your risk of infection. Consider these good habits and lifestyle changes:

Wash your hands often and make sure visitors do, too. You may consider using an antibacterial wash.

Stay warm before your procedure.

Make sure your healthcare providers are washing their hands and wearing gloves and masks.

Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.